


Next of Kin

by Emony



Series: Dear Neela [5]
Category: E.R.
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-16
Updated: 2010-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-06 08:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emony/pseuds/Emony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One incident in the ER changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next of Kin

**Author's Note:**

> First posted in four parts, 20 August 2005 - 09 September 2005

Half way through a busy shift, two and a half months on from Ray and Neela's clandestine wedding, one incident caused great changes across the whole of County General's ER. Robert Lakeland had been involved in a MVA/C on the busy road behind the hospital; ensuring that medical staff was on hand quickly, perhaps saving lives that would have been lost otherwise. Robert's condition, whilst serious was stable, and there was some time between his entrance to the ER and his being escorted to surgery.

Doctors Morris and Figler were in charge of his care; not that he'd seen that much of them, especially the ginger one. Now they were wheeling him on a gurney towards the elevators.

"The lift will take a few minutes to get us up there, Mr Lakeland," the female one told him as she pressed the button for the surgery floor.

He nodded. _Great. More time with these two idiots._

"Do you have any questions about the surgery, Mr. Lakeland?" asked the Morris bloke as he grinned at Figler.

"No." _Not that I'd ask you two anyway._

***

Jane Figler was enjoying her shift, despite the mayhem. The first half coincided with the end of Ray and Neela's. She didn't know whom those two thought they were fooling, although apart from her and Abby it appeared to be the entire ER. She laughed; a month and a half and still everyone was clueless.

After they left, the MVA/C victims came in and she'd been paired with Morris on a whole bunch of cases. This included the guy they were taking up to surgery. Morris was attempting to flirt with her again and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"…well, if you ever need a hand with that procedure, I'll give you one."

"Right, thanks."

"No problem." He winked at her.

Lakeland sighed and Morris ignored him.

"So, do we have numbers yet on the MVA? You know, deaths, surgery, walking wounded?"

Jane's eyes darted to Lakeland. He didn't seem too happy with Morris and his insensitivity. She tried to tell Morris that with a look; not that he understood.

"You ok, Jane? You look a little green. Do you need to sit? 'Cause I'm sure Mr… Lake… wouldn't mind a chick like you sitting on the end of his bed."

She was glaring at him now. "I'm fine." She knew Morris could be a little insensitive at times, but this was a little over the top; especially with a patient who hadn't exactly been entirely cooperative.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"The lady said she was fine. If you had half a brain in with that ego of yours, you'd have realised she wasn't sick; she was trying to stop you making a fool of yourself or antagonising me!"

Morris looked confused. Jane sighed. _Men._

Silence prevailed for a few seconds, right up until Morris's ego got in the way of his brain again.

"So, did you have any idea on those numbers?" he asked Jane, an apparently flirty smile covering his face as he did so.

Lakeland's face turned dark as, ignoring the pain of his injuries, he turned and swung at Morris with his fists. Morris fell under the blows, hitting his head on the gurney on his way to the floor - unconscious before he hit the ground.

The world slowed almost to a stop for Jane as she attempted to pull Lakeland back, all the while cursing the speed of the elevator as it continued its slow journey upwards. Once he realised Morris was unconscious, Lakeland lay back on the gurney - almost daring Jane to do something about it.

She skidded to her knees over Morris, attempting to check him for injuries as the elevator came to a stop and the door slid open.

"Someone help me! Please! Security!"

***

Susan's day had started many hours earlier. Cosmo was irritable and Chuck was joining in with a mean cold. The combination meant little sleep or peace and quiet for the ER Chief. On entering the ER just minutes before her shift was due to start, she was bombarded with questions on all sides. _Dr Lewis, can you sign this? Dr Lewis, do you know...?_

It was days like this that she wished even more that Carter had not left County; he could usually take some of the pressure off. Nothing against Kovac; he just wasn't John.

She'd come on shift less than an hour before the arrival of a major trauma, one that was to leave the newest med students and interns dazed and confused. Finally, when the last of the injuries had been seen to and the last person sent to the OR, she almost ran to the nearest coffee pot, glaring at the med student who threatened to get there before her.

She brought the cup up to her nose, breathing in the smell of coffee, and was about to take a sip when her pager beeped. She ignored it, lifting up the cup again as Sam burst in the room.

"Dr Lewis!"

"Sam?"

"It's Morris."

She sighed. "What's he done this time?"

"Got beat up by a patient in the elevator up to the OR. They're bringing him back down now; there's not enough beds up there 'cause of the trauma. He's still unconscious."

It took a second for Sam's words to filter through, but once they had, Susan put down her coffee and ran for the elevators to find the doors opening with Jane and an OR nurse wheeling Morris out on a gurney.

_Shit._

There was a small crowd of ER staff building up around the elevators, making it hard for them to get through.

"Right! Sam, Pratt, you're with me. The rest of you, back to work!"

They rushed him into trauma one, and though the panic of having to treat one of your own - even if it was Morris - set in, they all managed to keep their cool.

"Jane, tell me exactly what happened."

Jane stared blankly for a second, and shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she filled Susan in on the earlier events; the blows to his head followed by hitting the gurney and the floor as he fell had caused a lot of damage and he remained unconscious.

The fact that he was still unconscious - and had not regained consciousness at any point - caused worry for potential brain damage. The likelihood of sub-dural haematomas and those leading to further swelling of the brain was great.

The results of the CAT scan and MRI led them to believe an operation would be necessary, but it would have to be done quickly to give him a chance of full recovery.

"Anybody know who his next of kin is? Jane?"

Jane looked shocked at the thought she would know the answer and shook her head. No.

Morris would be stable, but not for long. Susan sent Sam off to access his records to find out who the next of kin was and how to contact them. Sam reappeared in minutes.

"Well?"

"The computer won't give me access. You have to do it."

"Fine."

Finding the nearest terminal she logged in and tried to access the records. A box came up announcing that access was restricted for personal information and that she didn't have clearance. She reached for the nearest phone to ring Weaver and dialled the first few numbers before realising that Weaver was in meetings across town all day. Putting the phone down, she tried the computer again; it still would not allow access.

"Dammit! It's my ER, who else should have access?"

Haleh walked past as she deliberated her next move.

"Haleh."

"Dr Lewis?"

"Can you go up to personnel for me and get Morris's file?"

"Sure."

Whilst Haleh was away, the ER filled up again, and the staff - now down a doctor - once again found themselves swamped, this time with the evening rush. Half an hour later, Haleh reappeared whilst Susan had her hands in someone else's chest.

"Dr Lewis, they say they need to see you in person before they give anyone the file."

"Did you tell them it's an emergency and we're swamped down here?"

At her look Susan apologised. "Sorry, Haleh, it's not your fault." Susan looked around. "Pratt!"

Pratt poked his head around the door between the trauma rooms.

"You busy?"

"Just finished tying this guy up."

"Good. Take over this one for me. Central line's in already."

She removed the trauma gear and headed for personnel, stopping five times whilst crossing the ER to answer questions. Thirty minutes later, she re-entered the ER - file in hand - heading for the admit desk. Searching the file, she found the listing for a Rebecca Morris and dialled the number.

"Hello."

"Hello. May I speak to Rebecca Morris please? This is Susan Lewis at County General Hospital."

"This is she, but it's Rebecca Harding now."

"Oh, well, this is-"

"Is this about Archie?"

"Yes, he's been-"

"Then you can ring someone else; I'm not married to him anymore. How did you get this number?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you're down as his next of kin."

"Looks like the idiot forgot to update his details then, doesn't it?"

"Uh, yes. Would you have a number for whoever could serve as his next of kin?"

Rebecca sighed. "Give me a minute, I'll find the number for the witch."

"I'm sorry?"

"His mother."

Then there was silence on one end of the line, as Rebecca went in search of the number. _Does she not realise this is serious? She can't fool around!_

"Right, here it is: 555 – 7894. That's his mother, Winifred. Bye."

Susan stared at the phone in disbelief, as all she heard was the dial tone. Recovering, she rang the new number and got through to his mother, who resolved to arrive in the ER within the hour. Susan looked at her watch and sighed as she realized that she'd just spent two hours trying to contact Morris' next of kin.

***

It had been a few weeks since Morris had been attacked and the lawyers were gearing up on both sides for court. Hopefully everything would be settled quickly, giving Morris, Jane and the rest of the staff at Cook County ER a little more peace of mind.

Dr Susan Lewis was once again having one of those days; Chuck's cold may have been over and done with, but Cosmo had since caught the bug and was even more irritable. A med student had spilled hot coffee over her as she'd entered the lounge, though thankfully she'd had spare clothes around to change into – the student was since avoiding her very carefully so as not to receive any more tirades.

The one good thing to have happened was that she had finally been given permission to do something about the Next of Kin situation. It had been ridiculous that it had taken so long to retrieve the information on Morris; it was even more ridiculous that it had taken this long to receive the ability to do anything on the situation.

The shift was changing; however Susan still had several hours to go so that she could inform everyone on all shifts of the changes to be made. She gathered the staff from the previous shift at admin to give them the good news with the next shift at the same time as they would pass over cases and go through the board.

"Right-" she began.

Luka interrupted. "Will this take long, Susan?"

"No more than a few minutes." She sighed. _One minute the man is wonderful; the next, a pain in the neck trying to get away as soon as possible and making me look incompetent._

"Just a few notes; Dr Morris is well on the way to recovery and should be back with us within the next couple of weeks."

Smiles all round, with just a few eye rolls added into the mix. Just because the man had been attacked did not make him the sudden angel of the ER. An extra large smile came from Jane; _was she that worried? Or is there something going on there?_ Susan shrugged off that thought and continued.

"And in relation to that incident, I'm sure you've all heard by now how long it took to get Morris' Next of Kin details, and how badly he could have been affected by the delay that caused." She waited as most nodded. "I've finally been given 'permission' to do something about this."

She turned to the desk behind her, separating a sheaf of paper into two, one in each hand, and turned back around with a grin on her face. "I need each and every one of you to fill these in; I want them back within 48 hours. You'll fill them in every two months, even if there hasn't been any change."

Most looked annoyed at this extra paperwork, and there were a few groans too.

"Guys, it's five extra minutes every two months and you all know it could save your lives." She saw a strange look on Ray's face, like he was worried about it, then Neela elbowed him and the usual smirk reappeared.

She held her hands out to those coming off shift and put the other pile back on the desk. "I'll leave this pile for the new shift, and I _will_ know if you've picked them up or not."

***

The day was coming to an end for Ray and Neela as Susan had handed out the small forms that were about to change everything for them. Not long after, they were sitting on the sofa in their apartment worrying on the details.

Neela sighed. "We knew this wouldn't last for ever, it being just us… in fact, it isn't even just us anymore; Abby knows." She scrunched up her nose. "Well she knows that we're together, at least."

"Soon she'll know we're more than that."

"I know. We can't let her find out through office gossip," said Neela, her teeth worrying at her lower lip.

Ray resisted the urge to kiss away that worry; this was something serious that they really needed to deal with. They had been kidding themselves that they could have themselves to themselves for so long. He sighed, laying his head on the back of the sofa.

"We'll have to tell her before we hand the sheets in, 'cause even if Lewis tells no one they'll find out somehow."

"And it isn't fair to Abby for Susan to find out first. It's bad enough that we didn't tell her in the beginning."

The forms sat on the small coffee table in front of them, the same coffee table they'd nearly fallen on over a year ago after a tennis match. Ray grinned at the memory, the emotions of that day, and thought of the strawberries sitting in the fridge waiting for later.

"Let's tell her tomorrow."

Neela looked up in shock; she hadn't expected him to give in so easily. He laughed and nodded.

"OK, then, tomorrow."

They each reached for a form at the same time, so in tune with each other now to know what the other was going to do next. A smile on each face as for the first time in a long time they told the truth.

Neela looked at the rings on her fingers and realised that soon she'd be able to wear them there all the time instead of hidden round her neck; and the ring on Ray's finger would no longer need to switch hands all the time.

***

Jane, too, had finished her shift as Dr Lewis had handed out the forms. Susan had held her back a moment and asked her to pass on a form to Archie for her. Jane was somewhat taken aback that Dr Lewis had known that she was seeing enough of Archie for her to be the person to give the form to. Perhaps, as she was the boss, she was supposed to know things like that.

_Or maybe I'm not being as sneaky as I'd like to be. Come on Jane, maybe it is obvious… but that's ok, you're allowed to be worried about the guy, you were there when he was hurt, it was your fault, kind of. At least no one's caught me calling him Archie, I'd never see the end of it, especially from Neela – not that she can talk, but I'm not supposed to know that she's seeing her roomie._

Jane's inner monologue had brought her all the way to Morris' front door for the third time that week - and it was only Wednesday. _It's good to laugh at yourself, Jane, 'cause if it's not I'm just going crazy. _She reached up her arm and rang the bell to his apartment. The little box buzzed for a moment then his voice reached out, "come on in, Jane."

She opened the door, wondering how on earth he knew it was her; it wasn't like any of his windows gave a view of the door. Unless she was becoming predictable. Soup in one hand and the form in another, she climbed the two flights of stairs to his apartment and let herself in; once again ignoring the fact that she had a key. _Just so I don't have to get up to answer the door, Jane._

He was sitting in the lounger facing the doorway to the living area, which was just off the small hallway after the front door. He had that little grin on his face, _the one that used to annoy the hell out of you, Jane, why doesn't it do that anymore? Huh?_

Shrugging off her thoughts and her coat, she ventured inside the room, smile on her face. She turned and hung her coat on the peg on the back of the door, _just like you've done every day since he got out of hospital, Jane._

"Hey, how's it going? Did you have a good day?"

"Sure, it was great; daytime TV is fantastic." _Gee, Jane, where do you think he's gotten that sarcasm from?_

She rolled her eyes at him as she tried to avoid that inner voice, the one that sounded like a combination of Abby and Neela. "Well, I have stuff to brighten up your day a little."

"What flavour?"

She refrained from rolling her eyes and told him as she handed him the bowl and went into the kitchen to find a spoon, "Parsnip."

As she came back and handed him the spoon, she sat on the sofa opposite and waved the form.

He looked up from his meal. "What's that for?"

"A form Dr Lewis is making everyone fill in; entirely your fault."

"Huh?"

"'Cause it took so long to sort out the next of kin thing." He blushed; he'd been avoiding that conversation entirely, and Jane wasn't about to have that discussion with him,_ we'll save that 'til much later on. In what? Your relationship? _She blinked and continued, "We all fill it in, and we do it every two months."

A childish smirk crossed his face at her last words.

"Fill it in."

He outright laughed. Jane blushed all over.

"The form, Archie, the form," she told him through gritted teeth.

"Sure. Let's have a look then." He held his free hand out for the form, which she passed to him.

"Doesn't look too complicated; I'll have to remember to put my mother back on it this time." He looked up at her. "Until I have someone else to fill that spot."

***

Abby Lockhart didn't know why the hell she was nervous; it wasn't as if she'd done anything wrong. Neela and Ray had asked to meet her for coffee early, before the start of their shift. Maybe there was something in the air; maybe it was worrying about something else. Or maybe she was worried her friends were going to tell her the one thing she didn't want them to. She wanted them to be happy; lately she'd worried that maybe they weren't so happy anymore - they were both a little stressed out when she saw them together at work, but not out of work. So maybe it was the stress of their relationship being a secret. Whatever it was, she was worried she was about to hear bad news, which she wasn't ready to deal with. There was something odd about hearing about it, but this was a whole living vicariously moment, and she didn't want it to end.

She looked up as the door to the café she was sitting in opened; Ray held the door for Neela to walk through, then followed through himself. They both looked nervous as they took seats opposite her. Neither looked as though they knew who would start, or exactly what they would say. They sat in silence until Abby couldn't take it anymore.

With an exasperated look on her face, she asked, "Well, what is it?"

"Uh…" this little gem from Ray who looked guilty, about as guilty as Neela did when she added,

"We, uh, well-"

"Spit it out guys, our shift starts in -" she looked at her watch, "forty minutes."

They looked at each other, Neela grabbed Ray's hand under the table and nodded at him; they both turned to face her.

"Wegotmarriedthreemonthsago." She hadn't realised Neela could talk quite that fast.

"You did what?"

This time Ray tried, "we got married, three months ago."

"Oh. Right." _Thank God, I figured with all the looks she was pregnant._

"You're not pregnant, are you?"

"NO!"

Half the patrons jumped and turned to look. "Don't mind her she just gets a bit excited some times."

"Abby!"

"So you're not pregnant, but you got married three months ago…"

"Yes."

"Why tell me now, not then? Why tell me at all if you didn't then?" _I knew they were dating then, I even knew how long they'd been dating… why did they not tell me?_

"We, we wanted it to be-" he turned to look at his girl-, wife for help.

Abby put him out of his misery. "You wanted it to be just you guys for a little bit longer?"

She almost laughed at the relief on their faces that she showed some semblance of understanding. They weren't out of the woods yet, this hurt and maybe someday they'd get to know how much, _but when don't I bottle stuff up? They don't need my problems on top of any of theirs…_

"Yes."

"Forgive us?" Ray asked with a little sorrowful smile, the sort that if she turned back time she might think about chasing.

"Maybe. I don't know, it hurts that you didn't tell me and there's probably some reason why you're telling me now, other than just being ready to tell… but I get it, sort of. Just don't say your sorry, 'cause I don't want it and you're not, either of you."

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

"The forms Susan's badgering everyone about?"

The looks of guilt answered before the nods did.

"Thank you."

"What for?" this from Neela.

"For telling me first, instead of letting me find out from Susan or through the ER gossip mill instead."

Neela smiled her first real smile as she leaned into Ray, and Abby saw the rings glinting on her fingers. A sudden girly moment pounced and Abby reached for her hand. Neela understood immediately, finally able to show off her rings - and her husband, of course.

***

The harder part was still to come. After a long discussion it was decided just to hand in the forms and let Susan find out in her own time, rather than telling her like school kids explaining to the teacher what they'd done wrong. However, it didn't calm any nerves Neela had. Posting her form into the locked box under the admin desk, her hands shook with nerves. She was glad everyone else was too busy to notice.

Her shift seemed like one of the longest she had ever endured, when in reality it was comparatively short and calm. The busiest part being when there were two trauma rooms in use at the same time; her in one with Abby, and Ray in the other with Jane and Susan.

Ray was not fairing much better; his trauma with Susan was just that. He was nervous and acting like a first year intern again, leaving Susan annoyed with him already - before she got to any sort of admin work.

The shift ended without comment from Susan, which led to further frayed nerves lasting over night, so that neither Barnett had any sleep.

***

Susan sat down at the table in the lounge room and pulled the box of forms onto the table top. Reaching for the key in her pocket, she opened the box and pulled out its contents. It appeared that she had most of the forms already, with only a few to be added from the next shift. She was to read them through before she put them into a database; that was part of the deal for her to have quick access to the information. If she wanted it, she had to get it and sort if herself. If it was anything less sensitive, she would have had a med student do it._ Damn Weaver!_

The first few were simple; she already knew the answers to them. She snorted as she came to Morris's form; the one she'd seen Jane sneak in that morning, trying to avoid her eye. _Definitely something going on there. At least he got it right this time, I hope he realises he's the reason everyone has to fill these in every two months._

As she read the next few, she had the feeling she was forgetting something. Finally, it came to her as she was picking up Ray's form. Putting it back on the table, she stood up and went over to her own locker, opening it quickly and pulling out her own copy of the form, placing it in the 'already read' pile, so as not to forget it later on in the process.

She poured herself a mug of coffee and sat back down, once again picking up Ray's form. She read through it quickly, until she came to the important bit of information, she stared at it for several moments. _Dr Neela Rasgotra-Barnett? Was he smoking something when he wrote this? I thought he realised this was serious; he doesn't play the idiot rocker card much anymore._

She placed his attempt at filling in the form on a new pile, the 'idiot pile', and reached for the next form. I'll deal with that later. She continued on through Luka, Sam, and Haleh, until she came to another surprise. _Dr Neela Rasgotra-Barnett? He got her in on it too? Next of Kin: Dr Ray Barnett? Are they having a laugh? _She added Neela's to the 'idiot pile', and continued on through the end, putting all the forms but two back into the box and adding a divider so that new forms would be separate.

As she sat back to look at Neela and Ray's forms again the door began to open. She looked at her watch; Abby's shift was ending. _Yup._

"Hey, Abby."

"Susan." Abby headed to her locker to hang up her white coat and turned to look at her. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, do you know if Ray was messing around when I gave out these forms?"

"He wasn't."

"Neela?"

"Nope. What have they done?" Abby's face looked as if she knew exactly what they'd done, or at least what they'd written.

Susan sighed, she really shouldn't show her, but it was either show it to Neela's best friend or take it to Weaver. She knew which Ray and Neela would rather deal with. She held out the two forms to Abby.

Abby read them through, no surprise showing on her face, nodding she looked up, "What's the problem?"

Susan laughed. "The problem?"

Then it hit her; she'd seen the way they'd been recently.

"How long?"

"How long, what?"

"Abby."

"Three months."

"They've been seeing each other three months?"

Abby shook her head. "No, for over a year now. They've been married for three months."

Susan's jaw dropped. "How did we not know? Did you know?"

"I knew about their relationship a few months in."

There was a somewhat sour look on Abby's face.

"And about the marriage?"

Abby sighed. "They told me this morning. They're young; they wanted it to be just themselves, and it was an accident that I found out anything in the first place."

"How did you find out?"

"Well-"

***

Neela strode purposefully towards the ambulance bay doors the next morning, dragging her husband along behind her. Her engagement ring was back around her neck, but her wedding ring sat in its place on her ring finger. Her steps faltered as she saw Dr. Lewis standing just outside the doors, waiting for them with a look on her face that Neela could not decipher. Suddenly Dr. Lewis ran towards her a grin on her face. Pulling her towards her and giving her a hug, she pulled back.

"I'd ask you if you were insane, putting up with this guy," she looked at Ray and winked, "but I think I know the answer."

Neela gaped in shock; nowhere in her mind had she expected this sort of reaction.

Susan laughed, "Congratulations guys. You do realise that once this gets out there'll be a party, right?"

Neela groaned as Ray smirked; he'd told her so several times already that morning. Susan looked at their ring fingers, and then up at Ray, eyebrow arched, "You were too stingy to get her an engagement ring?"

Neela reached for the chain hidden by her top and pulled it out so that Susan could see. "We thought it best that I would still wear this on the chain, so as not to accidentally catch it on anything or anyone."

Susan nodded, then turned into the 'ER Chief'. "Right. Enough gossip; off to work." And she headed off into the ER.

Ray and Neela followed on behind and entered the ER expecting the world to be different, but there was barely a glance from anyone. Confused, the pair looked to Susan who had by now reached admin.

She shook her head. "No, that's all up to you guys."

***

If they had thought the previous day's shift had been odd; this shift was even more so. Their world had changed, but no one else seemed to realise much of anything until Neela and Ray were running a trauma with Sam and one of the newer nurses. Neela leaned over the patient to get a better view during a femeral tare, and the chain carrying her necklace fell out; automatically Ray reached over and put it back in, smiling at her as he did so. The trauma carried on as usual and soon the patient was sent to the OR.

As they were leaving the room Sam grabbed Neela's hand towards her, throwing Neela off balance into Ray, who brought his arms around her to stop her from falling. Sam stood looking at the ring on Neela's finger, then up at Ray and Neela and the ring on Ray's finger on the arm curled protectively around Neela's body.

"When did this happen?"

"When did what happen?" Ray asked with a smirk.

Sam shook Neela's hand and pointed to Ray's finger, still not able to actually say the words. Some days she thought the two roomies were barely friends; they were often so tense around each other.

"Three months ago."

"Three? How did you keep that a secret?"

"Why, you wishing you and Luka could have managed to keep a secret that long?"

"Ray!" Neela snapped, elbowing him as she removed his arms from around her. He gave her puppy dog eyes and she rolled hers turning back to Sam. "That's only how long we've been married. We've been together for over a year."

Sam gaped, wondering how on earth the pair had managed to keep a secret that long in the ER, her and Luka's marriage had been found out within days. She shook herself, and wished them much happiness, to which she was given a warm smile from Neela and a leer from Ray.

By the end of the shift those that had heard of the clandestine relationship and subsequent marriage seemed to be walking round in a daze, _how on earth had there been a secret that big in the ER that wasn't known by everyone?_

***

Jane arrived at Morris's apartment that evening, partly smug that she'd known something was going on, and a little proud of her friends that they'd managed to dupe everyone for so long. _Mind you, there'll be a few hurt people out there once it's known. I wonder what they've told their parents._

She let herself into his apartment, calling out her entrance as she left her coat on the hook on the back of the door. She turned to face Archie, whose face fell.

"What?"

"No soup?"

"Oh! Sorry, I'd totally forgotten."

"What could possibly make you forget about my health and wellbeing?" he snarked.

"Like you don't have a fridge full of food anyway," she replied as she strode towards it and pulled out a tub of chicken soup and placed it in the microwave to heat it up.

"So?"

"What?"

"What happened that made you forget to provide for me?"

"Neela and Ray got married."

"Huh?"

"Three months ago."

"They, what?"

"They've been an item for over a year."

"Ray and Neela?"

"That is what I said, isn't it?"

"The dude's got style!"

Jane sighed, attempting to ignore Archie's innate maleness as she got the soup out of the microwave, found a spoon, and handed them both to him before finally sitting down herself.

"And we didn't even notice a thing."

"I did."

Archie's head swung towards her fast and he winced in pain. "You what?"

"I had thought there was something going on with the two of them for the last two months, so they were obviously slipping. I was just off by over a year." She laughed at herself.

"How come they told people?"

"Oh, again that's entirely your fault."

"It is?" he asked, wondering how this could possibly be his fault.

"The next of kin forms."

He looked puzzled for a moment and Jane could actually see the moment when the thought made it to his tiny little, slightly bruised, brain. "Ah."

He turned towards her. "You do realise that this means you can't possibly use the 'we're co-workers' excuse anymore, right? 'Cause it's not just Kovac and Sam anymore, it's Ray and Neela too."

"Whoever said I said that?"

She asked as she stood up and headed towards him, taking his soup away and placing it on the coffee table. He stared at her in wonder, his brain working at a slower rate than usual, _'cause by now I would normally have hold of her…_


End file.
